Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an online first-person shooter in which the player joins up with either a group of terrorists or the counter-terrorists (SWAT). The two groups then fight it out in a number of rounds. A round ends when all the members on a team are dead or if a team completes their goal. The teams are then awarded with money and the next round starts. Money can be used to purchase new weapons and equipment at the start of each round. If you die, then you will lose the equipment you bought in the next round. Aside from playing online, the player can also decide to play an offline game with AI-controlled bots or go through a weapons course. It is the fourth main game in the Counter-Strike series and features many gameplay elements and maps from Counter-Strike: Source and earlier versions, but with an improved visual style. It is also the first game in the series to be available on a PlayStation platform.

The game modes include:

Arms Race: the player can't choose weapons, but starts out with a basic one. Killing an enemy yields him the next weapon on the list and the game ends when the player makes a kill with the last weapon on the list (a knife).

Classic Casual: the terrorist teams needs to either plant a bomb or guard a number of hostages while the counter-terrorists try to free hostages and defuse the bomb.

Classic Competitive: same as regular Classic mode, but the player will have to buy all his equipment and not just the guns he wants.

Demolition: similar to the Classic mode but on a much smaller map with usually just one specific area to focus on. The weapon system is similar to Arms Race where newer and better guns become available gradually.